Agricultural machines towed by a tractor across a field for picking up windrowed crop material to form a cylindrical bale are commonly referred to as round balers. These machines have either a fixed or an expandable bale forming chamber disposed between opposing vertical sidewalls. The chamber is usually defined by a floor and transverse confining means comprising a continuous flexible apron and/or a plurality of transverse rolls. Frequently the apron includes an array of side-by-side belts trained around a series of rollers that extend between the sidewalls, and the floor consists of either a large roller or a continuous conveyor belt.
During field operation, crop material such as hay is picked up from the ground and fed into the chamber. The volume of crop material increases continuously in the chamber until a compact cylindrical package is formed. The package is wrapped while still in the chamber and then ejected onto the ground as a completed bale. Well known means for wrapping round bales include twine, net and plastic sheet material.
After the round bale has been ejected from the baler, it is either left in the field for storage until it is needed, or it is transported to a remote site for storage or use. Eventually, the baled crop material is fed out either manually or via a mechanized system.
Under certain crop conditions, such as baled silage, the crop material in the bale adheres to itself due to intertwining of crop, effect of sticky juices and moisture, etc. all of which tend to hinder the feed out process, especially in manual systems. In one prior art attempt to overcome this problem, the bale is sliced into smaller segments as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,549,481, issued Oct. 29, 1985 in the name of Wilbur E. Groenveld, et al, and No. 4,497,163, issued Feb. 5, 1985 in the name of Abraham Ogman. In the Groenveld, et al system, a knife is inserted into the periphery of a fully formed round bale to slice it into two cylindrically shaped parts prior to discharge from a baler. In the Ogman system, which also contemplates slicing a formed bale into two parts while it is in the bale chamber, a knife is inserted through an aperture in the baler sidewall to make a lateral cut.
In another prior art method, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,105, issued Apr. 27, 1993 in the name of Bernard Krone, et al, an expandable chamber round baler is shown in which cutting knives extend from the floor roll to cut crop material conveyed into the forming chamber by a crop pickup mechanism adjacent the floor roll. In the noncutting position the knife elements in the Krone, et al baler are retracted into a position within the outer shell of the floor roll.
To enhance feed out of baled crop material the present invention provides a solution to problems encountered but not solved by prior art systems. An improved method is provided that embraces and successfully resolves the problems without sacrificing reliability and effectiveness.